But Mo had exploited a loophole with his Fire Control ability. However, due to his insufficient control over Lightning Release, its power had not reached his expectations.
Setting those thoughts aside, Mo turned his attention to the illusory panel. The instant he saw its contents, his pupils contracted sharply. Before he noticed, his Sharingan spun wildly and formed three tomoe, immense ocular power pouring forth!
Red Child Fusion: 8.91% (Unlock Innate Divine Strength at 10%) Orange Child Fusion: 20.57% (Ability unlocked: Clairvoyance. Unlock the next-stage ability, Wind Ear, at 30%) Yellow Child Fusion: 8.91% + 16.39% (Unlock Impervious to Blades and Spears when both reach 10%) Green Child Fusion: 20.31% + 22.65% (Abilities unlocked: Blazing Fire, Thunderstorm. Unlock the next ability, Heavenly Fire, when both reach 50% and the second-stage abilities of Yellow Child and Orange Child have been unlocked) Cyan Child Fusion: 10.85% (Unlock Water Control at 20%) Blue Baby Fusion: 20.57% + 10.74% (Ability unlocked: Invisibility. Unlock No Trace when both reach 30%) Purple Child Fusion: 0.01% (Unlock Universe in the Sleeve at 50%)
In this battle, every corresponding unlock level had increased except his Wind Release proficiency and Space-Time Attribute.
The greatest improvements had come in Earth Release, Lightning-Fire Dual Release, and Yin Release proficiency. However, his Yin Release had improved because Mo had awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, while Earth Release and Lightning-Fire Dual Release had improved purely because of Kakuzu.
The tremendous improvement in Lightning-Fire Dual Release had even allowed Mo to directly unlock Green Child's second-stage ability—Thunderstorm! Red Child and Yellow Child were also close to unlocking their first-stage abilities... But just as he had expected, once the unlock level crossed the twenty-percent threshold, progress became exceptionally difficult.
Earth Release had directly risen by sixteen percent thanks to Kakuzu's heart, yet the Lightning-Fire Dual Release heart, whose strength was not much weaker, had barely improved after crossing the twenty-percent threshold...
"Kakuzu..."
Mo looked in the direction Kakuzu had fled and curled his lips slightly. "We'll meet again."
As his words fell, Mo immersed his mind in the panel, intending to study the new ability he had just obtained.
But at that moment, a voice suddenly came from afar.
"Teacher Mo!"
Mo turned toward the voice. The three members of Team 8 quickly ran up before him, and Kurenai Yuhi asked between heavy breaths:
"Where's that unkillable monster?"
"He ran away."
Mo's pitch-black eyes shifted as he temporarily set the matter aside.
Based on Green Child's first-stage ability, Mo concluded that its second-stage ability should be the corresponding Lightning Release ability. Fully mastering it would take some time. Besides that, Green Child's next ability, "Heavenly Fire," was also well worth studying.
This was bound to be a long-term endeavor, so there was no need to rush. Fortunately, he had already learned Chidori in advance and would not need to go through the trouble of whitewashing it.
Extreme shape transformation was simply too heaven-defying and would require some careful thought. However, abilities like Innate Divine Strength and Impervious to Blades and Spears could be concealed with ninjutsu or physique. As for Invisibility, it could not be freely displayed before others in the first place, so Mo did not need to worry about it for now.
"However... I can't keep hiding my abilities or exhausting myself trying to deal with them forever... Hidden Leaf..."
"He ran away? Mo, you drove him off?" Kurenai Yuhi widened her eyes and raised a hand over her slightly open mouth.
No emotion could be seen in Mo's dark eyes. He turned around without answering, merely saying calmly:
"Return to the village."
The group gradually went farther away. No one noticed the black figure standing silently atop the steep cliff above, taking everything in.
Black Zetsu: Hagoromo, You Did Well!
Before the battle erupted.
"This... this, this..."
"How is this possible..."
Black Zetsu looked at Uchiha Mo standing before Team 8 below and was momentarily dazed...
"In... Indra?!"
Uchiha Mo stood tall and straight, his exquisite features sculpted as though from stone and his proportions exceptionally perfect. Yet that was not what shocked Black Zetsu.
That distinctive hairstyle, those dark eyes, those sharp sword-like brows, those handsome features... Even the purple eyeshadow at the corners of his eyes was identical to that man's!
"What exactly is this..."
Over the past thousand years, Black Zetsu had seen two individuals who looked remarkably alike before. Yet he had never seen anyone resemble Indra to such an extent.
If Uchiha Mo changed into a white robe patterned with tomoe, Black Zetsu dared say that even Hagoromo would not notice anything unusual without using chakra!
"A coincidence? Or does that damned Hagoromo have some scheme again..."
As a veteran conspirator, Black Zetsu absolutely did not believe that such a coincidence could exist in this world!
With that thought in mind, Black Zetsu once again turned his attention below the cliff.
"Screech—!"
Lightning pierced through Kakuzu's body...
Uchiha Mo raised his foot, ferocious blood flames suddenly gathering beneath it as he stomped toward Kakuzu's back...
"I'll give you one final choice. Retreat, or die."
"Over here!"
"Scarlet Scorch: Scattered Fire Needles!"
"Screech—!"
"Scarlet Scorch: Chidori!"
"..."
"Uchiha Mo..."
Black Zetsu's gaze went blank, his entire body stiffening.
"There can be no mistake. That ultimate control over techniques, as natural as moving one's own limbs, is a talent unique to Indra, the inventor of ninjutsu!"
"And this guy... His personality is quite similar to Indra's as well. His entire being contains a profound darkness!"
Black Zetsu narrowed his two orange-yellow eyes, his gaze firmly locked on Uchiha Mo below.
"Uchiha Mo... He must have some sort of connection to Indra..."
"But... Madara is still alive!"
Black Zetsu could not understand it no matter how he thought about it. Yet when his gaze fell upon Uchiha Mo's face, a bold thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.
Indra's chakra had reincarnated, but his soul was still in the Pure Land!
"Could it be..."
"No, I can't jump to conclusions! In the end, he merely looks somewhat alike, his personality is somewhat alike, and his talent..."
Black Zetsu could not continue halfway through his sentence. At that very moment, Uchiha Mo suddenly covered his eyes, and the aura around his body became disordered.
Immediately afterward, an icy aura instantly spread through the area!
Black Zetsu's body trembled and suddenly froze. Then his yellow mouth curled upward to an exaggerated degree, nearly covering half his face.
"Hehe~ Hehehehehe! What familiar ocular power! Hagoromo, have you truly been unable to let go of your descendants after all!"
In the past thousand years, Black Zetsu had only been this excited when Madara Uchiha awakened the Rinnegan and when Indra had been won over.
In the current Ninja World, many people did not know that the ocular powers of the Uchiha Clan were actually different. The greatest disparity was between Indra's chakra reincarnations and ordinary Uchiha.
As everyone knew, once a Mangekyo wielder transplanted the Mangekyo of a close relative and their ocular powers fused, they could obtain a pair of Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. However, that result was not guaranteed.
(Book of Formations—The stated method is transplantation.)
Over the Uchiha Clan's long history, it was not as though no one had tried it. Only an extremely small number had succeeded, while Indra's chakra reincarnations would certainly awaken the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan as long as they met the requirements.
Furthermore, Indra himself and Indra's chakra reincarnations possessed vastly different ocular powers.
Indra did not need to awaken the so-called Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. With only the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, he could awaken the Complete Body Susanoo and bring the Sharingan's ocular power to its absolute limit!
Black Zetsu was the only person in the current Ninja World who understood this difference.
For a thousand years, in order to create a pair of Rinnegan and activate the Eye of the Moon Plan, Black Zetsu had witnessed countless reincarnations of Indra's chakra and was incomparably sensitive to their aura! He even considered himself more familiar with it than the Six Paths himself.
As the ocular power of Indra's chakra reincarnations increased, their chakra aura would become increasingly cold and sinister. Furthermore, that cold aura and the ocular power of their Sharingan at the same stage were several degrees stronger than those of ordinary Uchiha.
Most people mistook this for talent, but Black Zetsu could easily distinguish the difference.
And Uchiha Mo... The darkness he displayed, the strength of his ocular power—both were even greater than Madara Uchiha's when Madara had first awakened the Three Tomoe!
When Black Zetsu sensed that aura, he even felt that the owner of those ocular powers could bring the Sharingan's power to its limit without needing the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan!
This was absolutely not something coincidence could explain!
It truly was not a coincidence. Even if Black Zetsu racked his brains, he could never have guessed that Uchiha Mo possessed a cheat that purified his ocular power and Yin Release strength, while he had constantly suppressed the impulse for his Sharingan to evolve.
As Uchiha Mo's figure gradually disappeared beyond the horizon, Black Zetsu finally could not hold back. For the first time in his life, he abandoned concealment and burst into loud laughter, though his strange tone made it sound somewhat ridiculous.
"Hagoromo! I don't know why you sent Indra back to the Ninja World, but in the end, this will surely become my aid!"
As he spoke, Black Zetsu's body slowly merged into the ground.
"Since Indra has returned, Madara's body is no longer worthy of Mother... How exciting... What will happen if Indra's reincarnation obtains his own chakra? And if he then obtains Ashura's chakra as well..."
"Hehehe..."
Amid a burst of sinister laughter, Black Zetsu completely sank into the earth, leaving only a sentence that slowly dispersed in the wind...
"Indra, wait for me... I was too immature in the past, but now, I can definitely make you the sharpest sword in the plan! Serve me once more..."
Elsewhere, Uchiha Mo, who was making his way back to Hidden Leaf, had no idea that the greatest mastermind in the Naruto world had already set his sights on him.
He advanced calmly while slowly refining chakra to recover his strength. The braid at the back of his head swayed with each step, tapping against his back.
Only when Kurenai Yuhi saw this did she suddenly realize that Uchiha Mo's hairstyle seemed rather different from the style favored by most Uchiha Clan members or Hidden Leaf residents.
She asked curiously:
"Mo, who did your hair? It looks quite suitable on you."
Hearing that, Mo turned and glanced at Kurenai Yuhi, then lowered his head slightly to look at the small braid hanging before his temple.
"Hairstyle..."
Futsunomitama!
Without Terada Yusuke slowing everyone down, Team 8 returned to Hidden Leaf in only a day and a half after Uchiha Mo recovered his chakra.
"Phew—finally, we're back. I feel like I've been gone for months!"
Asuma let out a long breath. The scenery that had once seemed so dull now looked exceptionally familiar and comforting.
Mo lowered his indifferent black eyes. "Take the proof and settle the mission. Split the reward among yourselves; there's no need to give me any."
With that, Uchiha Mo stepped toward the Uchiha Clan District.
After receiving the gift from the black-market merchant of the Land of Birds, the reward for a C-Rank Mission was nothing more than small change to him.
Mo was eager to inspect his gains and obtain Cat Granny's Kusanagi Sword.
Just as he was about to use the Body Flicker Technique to leave, a voice suddenly sounded from behind him.
Before you continue